National Blog

US Builds $43 Million Gas Station in Afghanistan

The United States (as in, you and me), paid $43 million to build a compressed natural gas (CNG) station in Sheberghan, Afghanistan. SIGAR researched and determined similar stations in Pakistan cost a mere $500,000 or less to build. That's not even the punch line. The punch line is that the Department of Defense apparently has no idea how this happened or where the money went. Wait, no, that's not the punch line, either. The punch line is that the purpose of this project by the Task Force for Stability and Business Operations (TFSBO) was to "demonstrate the commercial viability of CNG for automobiles as part of a broader effort to take advantage of Afghanistan's domestic natural gas reserves and reduce the country's reliance on energy imports."